you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. we have somewhere between 800 billion and over a trillion dollars that were delayed in implementation but now starting to hit him squarely hit the middle class. hit andow starting to hit squarely in the middle class. the website is not working, let's fix it, but the law is not working. isn't it time for a timeout so we can go in and start finding out why we're seeing premiums go up, not down. why we're seeing the failure of the promised operational law to occur. senator, i would

respectfully disagree with your assessment about the law working. in the past 3.5 years, there are millions of americans who have .eceived benefits under the law 7 million young adult to have insurance now who were uninsured because they are now covered on their parents plan. seniors receiving not only additional benefits in their allcare plan, but despite of the accusations that somehow medicare advantage would cease to exist, we have a stronger and less expensive row graham today than we did. we have a 50% discount for prescription drugs. todays expensive program than we did. now haveof americans no co-pays and coinsurance for preventive care, everything from cancer screenings to

immunizations. we have the lowest health care cost increases in decades. insurance market, medicare and medicaid costs are at an all-time lower rate. >> you can go through those points, and for those data sets you are talking about, some of those developments have occurred , but on the flip side, we see millions of americans lose their health care. millions and millions more see health care premiums going up. the price for some of these fixes you are talking about is phenomenally higher than we understood or was represented. isn't it time to go in and look at the areas of the law that are in thefailing? >> marketplace the rates have come than what theower

congressional budget office rejected them to be. than actualot lower fact. >> those were projections of the rates so the rates were lower. much like we have heard the projections around medicare part d. >> are you saying in the individual markets, insurance rates are going down? >> i did not say they were going down, i said the rates are lower than was predict did, and for millions of people in the market a will for the first time ever .ave financial help >> we will have to move on. thank you. one of the toughest public service jobs i ever had was the elected insurance commissioner of florida. one of the most the doubling insurance markets was the individual insurance policy.

what would happen is people would be enticed to come into sheets health insurance, and then over time, as the group got , there was noer control on the rates. they would go up, and then they found limited health insurance. the affordable care act is trying to address. about theking individual insurance policies, not the group. in this particular case, we now have no lifetime limits. we do not have pre-existing conditions, and you can each look in your states and find many examples where the so- called cancellation has occurred , but in fact, they are going

into a policy that is going to give them protections because the 10 things that are required in the affordable care act, individual health insurance policies. so i would ask my colleagues as they look at this, please consider a lady in florida, woman that had a policy that was $54 per month. that sounds great. that is being canceled. when you got into the internals as reported by cbs, she did not have much coverage at all. had she gotten the disease like cancer, she would have virtually had no coverage. she will have that coverage --er the policies eight and

the policies under the individual markets covered under the aca. i want to say one thing going on about what is going on in the state. .ake a state like kentucky they did their work. and in the first month they have signed up 30,000 people. look at my state. i think7 states, because of politics, they anything.t to do one not accept money to set up, not going to expand medicaid, and look at the difficulty that now the federal government has in to set up this exchange 27 states. why couldn't we have been like kentucky and been way ahead of the game? >> finally i would say,

obviously no excuse for the website not working. i am one of the ones that sides, and as mr. chairman i heard you say people have twisted your words when you criticized the fact that the website was not working, and i certainly is one that said it is inexcusable in people should be held to account, so madam secretary, what legal authority you you all have to guarantee the contractors that are responsible for this thing not working are going to be held to account? senator, we have significant contracts with a .umber of key outside entities thatve paid out a portion

has been encumbered. it clearly is not up and running at a sufficient level at this point. we have new management with one of her key contractors driving part of this fix, and we will beensure funding that has the productivers on promised. it is not there yet, and that is a commitment. we are working with auditors and our team to make sure as bills come in, they are clearly reviewed and that we have the thertunity to make sure product we need and have committed to is delivered. >> mr. chairman, i will make a statement. as someone who has fought and bled for this and to have -- who

sincerely thinks it will work in you to hold, i want them account, burn their fingers beingke them pay for not responsible and producing a product that all of us could be proud. >> thank you. >> madame secretary, i want to remind everyone how we got here today. members of the committee question information on the rollout of the exchanges and said we only received assurances that everything would go smoothly. in march of this year we started hearing people directly involved with the development and implementation of the exchanges were deeply worried about the website launch. in june, the government accountability office issued a report that should have served as a warning to you as it highlighted implementation challenges that we now know were never addressed.

i want to stress this certainly was a warning to me. i july, it was clear your department was being less than transparent about whether the changes would be ready by october 1. as a result, i introduced the exchange sunset act of 2013. this would have set back of beneficial mandate. in august, hhs office of inspector general identified by missy and security vulnerabilities" or that critical task completed -- remain to be completed. an early september your main website contractor warned cms they were falling behind on their highest priority items. the warning included they may not have enough time in the schedule for testing and services were intermittently unavailable. several days later, the white house announced the data hub was ready for operation.

mid-september, ordering a significant change to the system to require people to submit personal information before to review plans or associated cost. testing showed a few hundred visitors crashed the site. the very next day, the decision was made to move forward with the website, knowing there was a high security risk during testing. in short, i believe you were given advice, counsel, and morning from experts inside your agency and out that health care exchanges were not going to be ready. furthermore, i believe you chose to ignore the warnings and as a result, you have put the entire health care system and won six of the economy in jeopardy. -- 1/6 of the economy in jeopardy. people are angry.

people are scared. they do not know what they will get coverage in a matter of week . they are getting letters from interim companies they do not understand. more people are losing insurance fan are signing up on the website. they are being directed to a website that does not even work. often talk about life and death in the context it deserves, but at this time it israel. it means the difference between life and death for many americans who at -- who are at a loss for what to do. we know fixing the website will not ever ask the ramifications that result from this. i have to wonder if you have any regrets, any regrets at all that you failed to heed the warnings, you proceeded to open the exchanges on october 1. immediately followed by a

promotional tour to tell everyone is a great problem to have. candidates do not think these are great problems to have. from your home town of topeka, i am completely disgusted. you yourself know that this law has serious problems. you do laid over half of the mandate deadlines. you did it for unions and not from the exchanges. nor for millions of others of health care for americans. their worry and fear are palpable. your main goal should have been to protect americans and ensure safety. in your zeal to implement this law, not warning, advice would deter you from implementing the exchanges.

you have said america should hold you accountable. that is why i repeat my request for you to resign. thank you. >> thank you, senator. thank you. thank you for joining us this morning. problems we're facing with the marketplace website are substantial, unacceptable. they need to be fixed immediately. i would like to take a second and put things into historical perspective. problems to reset social security. social security set up insane. medicare are facing trouble. prices for medicare. new problems in medicare drug in a fit. those were headlines of the 30s, 60s and early of this decade

about major programs that have become beloved in terms of the social safety net in this country. so while this is un-excusable him about the same -- by the same token it has been a challenge based time and time when any program has been unveiled. i find it amazing that those who subscribe blame are the same folks that have spent every waking hour of the past four years working to dismantle, destroyed, obstruct and impede the success of the affordable care act. there he are concerned not about failure -- they are concerned not about failure but success. i hope what we will focus on is how do we succeed now? i want to get a sense when those of us on the committee work to put the bill together, i guess

we were under the faulty assumption that states republicanby legislatures of governors. we put a higher premium on their love of state rights and opportunity for citizens and their dislike of the president or ideological or political opposition, which is why we see far better success in those states that have established their own marketplace. what is the consequence of having so many of the states not pursue their own marketplace and delegating it to the federal government? did you envision having that many states not open up their own marketplace, and what has been the consequence of the burden of that? i would say we really did not know. 27 states had sued around the constitutionality of the bill.

there was uncertainty of what would happen when the state declared it unconstitutional. some have chosen a partnership where we still run the bulk of the exchange. others have refused to participate at all. i would say the uncertainty added to the uncertainty of how large the operation would be. having said that, we did have deadlines in january of 2013 force states to officially declare whether they would run their own marketplace or not, and by the middle of february, a partnership plan. we have 30 six states who are using the federal hub at this point. i think that is significantly higher than people predicted initially. states.ve 36 we have robust product offerings in those marketplaces.

very competitive, a fourth of the insurers are brand-new, which is good news to the people who have been in a monopoly market for a long time. they have choices and competition. >> is it fair to say the state run marketplaces have greater success than those run federally? >> i would say the web features of the state markets are certainly running more smoothly. if you think about one set of products and prices in one state, it is less complicated thing. all of the states, as well as the federal markets are using the hub. they come into the federal market to certify security and income. you one lastk question. we are hearing from a number of providers.

companies had yet to provide them with networking contracts. that is a basic function of the marketplace in order to ensure network adequacy. if we are going to say state insurance regulators are responsible for certifying the marketplace lands, but many of these are actively hostile to the affordable care act. how are people supposed to shop for at the end if they do not doctorat includes their when the networks are not in place, and will the networks be in place by january 1? that is as no plan qualified plan on the market that does not have a network that is actually available and this guernseyade of the state department.

>> thank you. thank you very much. >> we all know if president obama's health care plan you like, you will be able to keep your plan. millions of americans are unfortunately finding out that is just not the case. if you like your current plan, you can keep it. as long as it is the model he chooses. i offered to give people the on this choice to keep their plans. everyone in the senate voted against it. incidentally, the white house website has a little problem, to . it still has the president's

problem -- promise that if you like your health plan, you can keep it. the insurance commissioner assures me it is plans that they like. i am working on a bill with ron johnson and 36 others that would allow americans to keep their health care if they like it. the insurance cancellation notices are a wake-up to the american public, even ones that initially support the law. it is hurting the economy and making health insurance less affordable. the one-size-fits-all approach is hurting the country, and we tod more people in congress understand this. the hope is even democrat colleagues are seeing the light. if not, i bet they -- hope they keep their feeds to the fire and hold them accountable.

my question is, what is the administration doing to help the millions of people that will suffer as a result of the president's broken promise? what can i tell my can to chewing to have had their insurance coverage canceled and are facing thousand dollars in insurance costs? wyoming's costs are higher than any other in the nation and only have two providers. increase not been an in the number of providers. i think the president's promise was in the long the day it was written, and that is the grandfather clause that we wrote as a policy. it did not change to the detriment of the consumer even though they could raise premiums. they could not eliminate

benefits or take away items that the consumer like. of individuals are enjoying the plans today and will enjoy them in the future. but if indeed the plan is turned , and you heard senator nelson talk about the turn in the market and the planned turnover, if plans in this market changed over and over insurersce 2010, then have been on notice since 2010 they needed to come into compliance with the same exact better inrotections every other part of the health insurance. it just was not available to

individuals out shopping on their own. >> i am not worried about insurers. i am worried about the individuals who lost their policies they like. theyare losing the doctor like to go to. in some instances the hospital they like to go to. there are changes causing problems. you also mentioned a number of people are signing up. i have noticed in washington state their worth 30,000 people that signed up. 87% will receive it through medicaid. maryland reported 85,000 people enrolled. medicaid.ing into thecaid has costs for federal government, particularly with some of the increases that were put into this law. will we we able to afford the

increase in medicaid? it is not bringing in the other customers that will pay the tab to provide the revenue to do this. when the affordable care act was passed, it was anticipated 100% of the states would expand medicaid that was altered i the supreme court decision that made dedicated expansion of voluntary expansion for states. we now have 30 governors, republican and democratic who have declared interest in moving ahead with medicaid expansion, and that expansion was fully paid for within the affordable care act 10-year window. law thatpart of the was passed in 2010. parts not on the deficit, of the law. unlike medicare part d. more questionst

and writings. >> thank you, senator. .> thank you i am convinced the fundamentals of the affordable care act, the very orderlyn in a way of protecting millions of americans on better coverage and giving assurances that the practices that existed before the affordable care act are being dealt with. i think as my colleagues talk about the actions of private insurance companies today go back to before the affordable care act to see how many oscar bridge. reducing benefits, increasing premium. we now have stability in the market due to the affordable care act. in regard to the exchanges, the number of insurance carriers

offering plans and the pricing came in much longer than we anticipated when we passed the affordable care act. so it is sound. the concern of every member of the committee, theppointment to how website shopping and enrollment was not done more effectively starting october 1. guess my question, as a result of the delay of individuals eating able to shut off and enroll on the websites, the internet, there are people who are going to be disadvantaged. you folks who have not gotten as far as they want. we will have consumer fatigue, people who will have a more challenging time. we also have a large number of people who have lost their coverage, which was understandable because these were policies that were changed

since 2010. these are individuals who changed their insurance policies but want to enroll so they can get coverage effective january 1. what setsn to you is are you taking to deal with the individuals who have attempted to not yet enabled -- who -- but have not yet an role in those that need coverage by january 1 to make it easier, more convenient for people to shop and enroll. it can be done on the internet, but also five tape for and telephone. what steps have you taken to protect those who may have infered from the delay getting the website working? number one is really getting the site fixed as rapidly as possible. in the meantime, we are

deploying additional assets. call center operations have individuals. we have about 12,000 trained call center representatives who not only have an english and of the scripts, but translators who can answer questions into 150 languages and can take a consumer from start to finish through the entire process, or help the consumer create an application and go back to the site and visit it they dare. that is very much underway and we are trying to increase that visibility. every community health care trainedn america has workers on the ground throughout the country. they are very actively working in their neighborhoods in the community. a contract for community groups and well-known

medical advocacy groups, trained as navigators to walk people through. that can be done in a paper application or on the phone or in person. >> i am glad you mentioned paper application because you can do them. i would urge you to make that available for those that feel more comfortable. >> we always knew there would be a population who would never use the web. who are not web savvy or not alwaysable so we have had alternate strategies. we are trying to enhance them. the state exchanges, those operated by the states are having different results. some are doing well, some are not. i would urge you to monitor the progress made on the state exchanges, because we want to make sure those that have been of thentaged because

inadequate performance on line, that it may go beyond the federal exchanges and those individuals are also protected as you look at ways to compensate for the slower rollout than we anticipated. >> we have regular updates with the state directors. one is a clearing -- occurring at 4:00 this afternoon. keeping in very close touch. lessons learned. we would like to deploy them and other areas. figure out what is working and not working and use the full six months of open enrollment to reach out and enroll people that are eager for affordable health care. madame secretary, september 2 thousand nine a poll showed that 88% of americans were satisfied with their current health insurance plan. this is why the president no

thet it -- no doubt made promise he made. as you can see, as of yesterday the white house website says if you like your plan, you can keep it and do not have to change a thing due to the health care law. we know that lying to congress is a crime, but unfortunately lying to the american people is not. i would like to ask true or false. is that statements on the white house website true, or is it false? sir i think the statement that you can keep your plan, the of americans insured are in the employer market, public plans or veteran have, and those plans stayed in place and continue to offer benefits.

the 11 million people in the individual market, a majority of those individuals will keep lands that now have stronger coverage, and others will have to choose of a plan. my time is limited so i would ask that the record note you have refused to answer my question. is it true that in june of 2010 the department you had estimated of those buying their insurance on the individual market would lose grandfather status, and isn't it also true on the same day your department estimated 66% of the people in small employer plans and 45% and large employer plans would lose their grandfather status by 2013? isn't that true?

senator, that is an accurate use of the statistics. question iwer the will tell you what the statistics mean. >> that is not what the statistics say. that was a look back at how much sure and there is in the marketplace. not a projection of what would happen in 2014. about 156t true that million americans get their health insurance from the employer-sponsored health care saidand the cbo offered --

because of the failure to keep the promise on the white house website that 78 million americans will not be able to sop their plans as promised isn't that true? >> i do not have any idea what that statistic is. i think there are 170 million employer-sponsored coverage. >> i would commend the cbo estimate to you, which is what congress estimates upon. 78 million will not be able to keep employee-provided coverage. this is conclusion that a false statement made to the american people that this -- hastration is consistently doubled down on and has repeated time and again and the only thing i can conclude is it is impossible to do something in this administration that gets you fired. it is impossible here you and you can live to the american

people, consistently misrepresent the facts but impossible to get fired. i want to ask you about the navigators. the president is in dallas, texas, touting the navigator program, which as you know, people hired to help people navigate the affordable care act. i would like to ask you this question. isn't it true there is no federal requirement for navigators to undergo a criminal background check, even though they will receive personal information from the individuals they help to sign-up up for the affordable care act? >> that is true. states could have an additional background check and other features, but it is not part of the federal requirement. >> so a convict the balance could be a navigator and requires sensitive -- acquire sensitive personal information unbeknownst to them? >> that is possible. we have contracts with

organizations and they have taken the responsibility to screen the individual navigators and make sure they are sufficiently trained for the job. >> enqueue, very much. -- thank you very much. >> nice to see you. i wanted to start with a letter from a small business owner in hudson, one of the most conservative suburbs in our state. he said i am a father and small business owner. i began in 2009 and decided to quit my day job. i am more successful today than i ever would have imagined but no help company will sell -- sell me health care insurance. i could not get up insurance at any price cut is a pre-existing conditions and now because of the affordable care act my family is now insurable. i get letters like this all the

time, i think we all do. senator menendez spoke about the difficulty of implementing a huge social insurance program. you can go back to when you were a junior, senior in high school when your father, member of congress voted for medicare. i suppose he shared stories about the opposition in those leaning republican politicians like congressman dole and rumsfeld and gerald ford voted against it. the john burke society. the insurance companies. the ama opposed medicare. the rolling out was so controversial, especially because medicare resulted in integrating southern hospitals. if you think this is controversy all, imagine the difficulty a

,ear after civil rights medicare forced hospitals to integrate. this is soview that controversial, unprecedented but the important thing is five years later people look back and thought what was the big deal? why were people so opposed? tells me, five years from now or ,5 -- 48 years after medicaid what will people say about the affordable care act in five years and 48 years? this will beul another significant step forward in ensuring all americans have access to affordable coverage, which is not what we can claim today. we are the only western country that does not have that health care as a basic right. i think this is a significant

feature for not only uninsured americans, and they will have access for the first time either or toicaid expansion affordable plans in the marketplace, but also, those individuals who have been referred to a number of times in the individual market, the last marketplace where the consumer protections -- where they do not enjoy the consumer protections that every other enjoys. existingation on pre- conditions. no medical underwriting. if you're healthy, that is great. if you're not healthy for me you are in terrible trouble. these are folks that want health insurance. i think this is a significant step forward and one that we will look at on hopefully and we finally made

the significant step. 70 years republican and democratic presidents have been attempting to accomplish this. clearly the opposition is still quite ferocious, and i am hoping people understand what the options are, what the benefits could be and what opportunities are. senator cardin and i were just talking about earlier, opposing the medicare drug expansion. i did because it was far too much a giveaway to the insurance and drug interest and did not provide the level i thought it should. could have been done in such a better weight. i also did something that know a number of people on our side of the aisle did, and that is hold town hall meetings, sent by staff to help people. we helped the constituents

navigate what was an arduous path of getting construct -- prescription drug benefits. i wish that were happening today. i challenge my republican friends. it is the law. disastrous, ihis hope after this my colleagues .ill work in their states i was handed a note by my staff. republican house members in ohio have gone so far as to tell constituents who have questions to call brown's office because he voted for it, and we did not. i hope as a nation and public officials we do our job. i do not mean to sound like i am lecturing, but i hope we pull together and make this law work as well as a can in our states and across the country. >> thank you.

law thee law, but the administration has chosen to delay portions of it. agree the rollout has been a failure of epic portions. a couple of front-page stories today as there was a tech expert saying this may be in error but you cannot pass an undergraduate computer science class by making these mistakes. we have all talked a lot about that. we hope you get that right. eventually i think it will the right. i am a person who believes this is fundamentally flawed legislation. we see higher cancellation notices, fewer jobs. when he passed something that has higher taxes, community rating, all kinds of mandated coverage, i think it is inevitable you will see rates go

up. the point is, this was predicated upon a bunch of promises made to the american people that are not -- which are being broken. i think it is so fundamental to the debate. june 14, 20 10 you held a press conference announcing this grandfathered role. you said this will make good on the president's promise that americans can keep their health and and -- health care plan dr. under this law. did you read the regulation when you released it? if you read it, how could you possibly say this will keep the president's promise when on page 3, 4, 55-three your agency estimates up to 67% of individual market plans will by 2013?dfather status >> what i tried to explain, those estimates were made by the

health economist who looked back. snapshot that occurred in the individual market year in and year out. very few people stayed for more than a year. we did that as a back -- backward look. a notice that you can basically a void any coming into compliance with the law i keeping these plans in place. that is what basically the grandfather clause says. i can tell you we got enormous pushback from medical do these -- disease groups, health care. knowingly violate your promise that if you like your health care plan you can keep your health care plan? there was no caveats of the time. it did not say if you like your health care plan, you can keep

or unless it gets canceled unless it gets changed or unless we do not like it. it said if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. the president said that over and over again. yet how can you go out knowing what you know and allow the president to -- to continue to say that? again, that is what the grandfather clause was all about in the first place. it was very controversial, but we felt it was important. is written into the larger withyee or pan -- planned the same caveat. i can tell you for the vast who get thepeople employee or-based health care in the ba plan are in medicare, a part of the insurance market -- their plans are very much in

place. there is change coming in the individual marketplace. that manyrotections people have never enjoyed or experienced. think americans in that market should be able to keep plants they like even if the government does not approve of them? that is what the grandfather clause set. >> i think most will -- most americans believe in grace and are pretty forgiving people. they will tolerate and accept honest mistakes. you have been misleading the american people and the president has. i would much rather say you were wrong. it is the pinocchio thing. you have for pinocchio's on the statement. i think people would be except didn't -- accepted of it if you

would take it off the website. it is not a true statement, never was a true statement. one thing that when people were sold this it was based upon. i think it is a tragedy the american people bought into this and you knew full well it was not going to be the case. >> thank you. >> thank you. we appreciate your testimony. you testified in your opening ii was hiredt qs as for the website and have? >> they have taken on a new role in the past couple of weeks organizing the fixes going in. they were the contractor for the hub. >> are you aware in june of this year, the inspector general issued a report finding them guilty of violating the ms requirements on security that exposed 6 million been the fair

recipients? >> i am aware of that. my understanding is they inherited that and did not initially have the various provisions. they did self-report that to us. have aderstand they contract now to do what they are doing. is there a way to correct that to make sure it does not happen again? but that was corrected immediately and there is a provision to make sure they comply. >> this will be the main of my questions. the 20thnt a letter on of june asking for the requirements you were putting in to protect information. i understand you have been very that. what respect

are you doing to ensure the navigators protect the private information they are exposed to for american citizens? must goavigators through a minimum of 20 hours of training. a significant portion focuses on privacy and security issues. new law,ow, in the there is no personal health information ever collected or needed, so they do not have access to that, unlike a -- an insurance agent today. interruptingfor but under the code there are a number for auditions for personal information being used. have to know the income on the tax return previously. will the navigators be able to use that information or make the estimate? >> if a consumer chooses to share that information, they can give the consumer information

about what they qualify for. >> the law prohibits insurance agent from being navigators unless they quit their jobs to become an navigator fully. it also has a medical loss ratio that basically allows the insurance agents not to be paid a commission for selling health care. the navigators were put in to be the connection to the obamacare law. in the state of georgia, my state has been concerned about the risk of information they have made a requirement that every navigator have a criminal background check. don't you think there should be a similar requirement nationwide by your department to see to it no navigator gets private information unless they get a private background check? >> there are 35,000 agents and brokers that of an trade and -- trained and very much part of the process of reaching out to individuals. secondly, we did write the

requirements for the navigators mirrorry much nearer -- what is in place. did add additional requirements. some have chosen to, some have not. >> would you object to a requirement to have background check? >> at this point, if that is the will of congress, we would certainly take a look at that. i want to shift over to one other thing. state is known as the vacation city but also a very rural street -- state. in our state in a recent article , it was quoted the race in rural georgia are going -- rates andgoing up astronomically disproportionate to rate increases in other parts of the state. is rural america getting hit hard because of the effects of >> i amrdable care act?

-- i was the governor of a very rural area. .he competition is less often it is a monopoly market. i do not think that has changed enough with the affordable care act. willnk new competition begin to change that, particularly in the individual market where often people have no choice and no competition. >> my time is up, so i will yield back as a follow-up question later. >> thank you. senator portman. >> thank you for being here today to answer some of these questions. i noticed you expressed frustration about the fact that administration officials are now saying they did not see the problems coming. i hear that frustration.

there were plenty of warnings. secretary was a letter that i sent to you back in august. director tavener. i sent it because i was hearing a lot from ohio about problems with enrollment. they did not believe they were getting the interest they needed from you. so i asked a bunch of questions. i relate the concern that ohio did not think there was a minimal amount of coordination. i requested specifically, who in your agency is in charge? who is the liaison with ohio? i also expressed concern about what i knew about the information technology problems that were pretty obvious, wondering whether they could be solved by october 1. whether you have tested the technology, specifically whether the systems would work

and what were the results of the testing. i said i was concerned there would be confusion and disarray for ohioans. unfortunately, there has been. i did not receive a response from the letter. that august letters -- letter still remains unanswered. i want to ask you today, who is in charge of the federal exchange in ohio? who can i direct my constituents to because i am trying to help? ultimatelysay administrator tavener oversees the agency. >> there is no one in ohio? accountable >> we do not have an individual assigned per state. no, sir. >> you talked earlier about how you think you should not take on the site, a suggestion i the chairman and others, better to do routine upgrades.

are you testing the site, testing the upgrade you are using? >> we are testing on a regular basis. >> to the american people. with regard to the lack of transparency in setting up the site. >> testing is going on every day on every piece of equipment that is being installed, every coding that is being run as we did with every part of the equipment part of the site. the companynly by and contractor as it was presented. it was a cms test performed and then independent verification test. >> so the problems we're all experiencing and testing, there was surprise. continue.just

a lot of stories from constituents. a guy calls in and says i tried to get on for two weeks and found out my rate has doubled. calls me to say i still have not heard back on them. those stories are out there. we are told 12 million people nationally will lose the coverage they have. we talk about the promises made on that. how many ohio wins have had insurance plan canceled? do we know? >> that is proprietary insurance information. i do not know. >> other states have provided that information. are private plans. ohio companies could give you that information, but that is not information that we have at the department of health and human services. >> we will not know how many people -- >> i think you could ask the

ohio insurance companies. like they are canceling plans because the legislation you are implementing does not permit these plans because they do not meet the mandate. it would be helpful for you to know how many of the plans are being canceled. customer is ina a grandfathered clan, they have not received a notice. i really do not -- >> you do not care about the data? >> i care about the data but i cannot tell you for ohio. >> at me ask you a final question. we have talked about coverage, the cost being less rather than more. we have not talked about coverage. is it true after all of this sound and fury and bureaucracy and 19 new taxes and over $1 trillion of spending and so on, still 30 million americans 10 years from now after full implementation of this will not >> itold care insurance?

hope that is not the case. understand, and frankly, i have no idea what their premise is. i think that is unlikely to be can bef the program fully realized. >> do you have a number on that? >> no, i do not. >> thank you, sir. >> enqueue -- thank you. >> enqueue, chairman. theoncerned as i am about huge problems with the website, i am more concerned with some of the underlying fundamental design problems with this legislation.

in particular how the false promises are affecting real people. in this case, my constituents. he said i received notice last week that my health care will more than triple. currently i am paying $265 a month for me and my two young sons. on january 1, my premium will be $836 a missouri the president promised you can keep your plan and families will save every year. i can keep my plan i just can't afford it. i qualify for subsidies $80 a month. while there was a promise families were going to save money with this, clearly not the case for this family. there is a promise that's been eluded to. the president and others said if